Thanks to the COVID-19 crisis of the past year, the demand for good healthcare professionals has never been more apparent. And if you are considering changing your career to a role that allows you to care for others and make a real difference to others, the worldwide pandemic might be just the push that you need in the right direction. Maybe you have always wondered if you would make a good nurse. If you are highly empathetic, a naturally kind and caring person, and would enjoy spending your working hours helping and supporting others, you are already on the right track. 

There has never been a better time to become a nurse, with more demand for these healthcare professionals than ever before, and a huge selection of nursing training options to consider. With the country now grappling with COVID-19 alongside an aging population and a shortage of primary care physicians, the demand for good nurses is growing by the day. Whether the pandemic has made you realize that you want to do something different with your career or you feel compelled to help others in the future, here are some of the best reasons to consider letting it be your push into a nursing career path. 

The Higher Demand for Nurses

As healthcare professionals, nurses have always been needed wherever there are patients around the world, and that is unlikely to ever change. However, in recent years, the US has seen a worrying nursing shortage, alongside a shortage of primary care physicians that have made the demand for good nurses even higher than ever before. And due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that demand has only grown over the past year. In many states, people saw first-hand the effects that a shortage of nursing was having on employees and patients alike, with many hospitals and clinics completely overwhelmed with the number of cases and simply unable to provide the staff members to keep up. 

Throughout the pandemic, many nurses voiced concern that they did not feel there were enough healthcare professionals in the industry to ensure that everybody got the support they needed, and many nurses voiced worries regarding feeling overloaded and overworked. It was a wake-up call for many people who, up until now, might not have realized just how serious the situation had become. 

Choice of Nursing Training Options

If you've decided that nursing is your career calling, there are now more options available than ever before when it comes to completing training and getting your ASN or BSN. Depending on the state that you plan to work in, educational requirements might be different to get you started in a nursing career. If you want to hit the ground running and start working as a nurse as quickly as possible, you might want to consider starting as a licensed practical nurse (LPN) with an associate's degree, before moving on to get your BSN online as you work with an accelerated program or bridge program from somewhere like Marymount University. 

Alternatively, if you already hold a degree in another subject, there are various fast-track programs in nursing that you can complete to get your BSN and become a registered nurse in a shorter time period. Online nursing programs are the ideal choice today since they allow for easier working and studying at the same time, which might be necessary if you are changing your career and plan to continue working in your current job until you are qualified as a nurse. Once qualified, you can also choose from several different advanced online learning options that will allow you to progress your career in nursing even further, such as family nurse practitioner degree programs or masters of science in nursing degrees that you can use to pursue a career as a nurse manager, nurse executive, nurse practitioner, nurse educator and many more. There are also various further training courses that nurses can take to specialize in certain areas of healthcare like nurse-midwifery, for example. The options truly are endless, and getting foundational and additional nursing qualifications online has never been easier. 

Increased Career Security

Everybody wants a career that they can rely on. You want to be able to go to work knowing that your job is secure. And, nursing is one of the best choices of a career when it comes to security. As a nurse, you're guaranteed to find work wherever you go. There are tons of different healthcare settings where nurses are always needed, whether you want to work on the frontline of patient care in a hospital, supporting a physician in a doctor's office, or visiting patients in their homes within the community. Nurses are also needed in prisons and jails, in schools, and in various other community settings. Nurses who would prefer to work behind the scenes can find work in management and administration, research facilities, and education. The demand for nurses grows in almost any kind of crisis; there's no need to worry about job security being impacted negatively by a situation like COVID-19. 

Opportunity to Travel

Nurses are needed all over the world, so if you hope to spend some of your life traveling and exploring different places, you can easily do this when you choose this career. Travel nurses are often paid very highly and there are various agencies that you can sign up to for getting work and seeing more of the world at the same time. As a travel nurse, you could be working in different hospitals and clinics all around the country, or even work abroad. Travel nursing also gives you the option to offer your services in countries that have been affected by war, natural disasters, and other crises, giving you the chance to gain real-life experience in a huge variety of different situations that will only help you become a better nurse over time. 

Great Salary and Career Benefits

Working as a nurse is very emotionally rewarding, but it can also be very financially rewarding. In the majority of states, nurses start out with a generous salary that can be increased as you move into various specialty areas or work your way up the ranks into higher-paying nursing positions. Licensed practical nurses earn around a minimum of $45k annually, and this rises to even more for registered nurses. By earning more qualifications and becoming a nurse practitioner, you could easily double your salary when working up from the position of the licensed practical nurse, with nurse practitioners earning an average of around $90-100k per year. In addition to the attractive salaries, nurses often enjoy great career benefits including health insurance packages and more. 

Flexible Working Hours to Suit You

Since nurses are needed twenty-four hours per day, seven days of the week, there is a huge amount of flexibility involved with choosing the hours that you would like to work. Nursing could be the perfect choice for you if you would like to choose how and when you would like to work with so many options available. Whether you'd prefer to work night shifts, early mornings, day shifts, or certain days of the week, scheduling is often highly flexible. This makes it the ideal choice for parents who are often able to fit their work around their children's schedules. There are also several careers available in nursing where you will be able to work a regular 9-5 schedule if that's what you are looking for. 

Career Advancement Opportunities

If you've been feeling stuck in a rut in your current or previous career and never want to feel that way again, nursing is a great career option to consider. With so many opportunities for moving into specialty areas or progressing your career to higher ranks, there is always something for ambitious nurses to work towards. Registered nurses have no shortage of options when it comes to choosing new things to learn and new areas of healthcare to get involved in. If you've been inspired by the pandemic, you could move into a nursing career where you are responsible for overseeing clinical trials for new and groundbreaking treatments and medications like the COVID-19 vaccine, or study to become a nurse-midwife if you're interested in working with moms and new babies. If you like the idea of a career working with and caring for the elderly, you might want to consider a pathway to becoming an adult-gerontology nurse practitioner. Whatever you want to do with your nursing career, there will be an option available for you to consider. 

It's Highly Rewarding Work

If throughout the COVID-19 crisis you have often found yourself trying to help others as much as possible and are committed to volunteering your time to provide support to those who need it, you could be a great nurse. Nurses are the type of people who care about others and are always looking for ways to provide support and care where it is needed. Because of the nature of the job, nursing is easily one of the most highly rewarding careers in the world. There are very few other job options where you get to come home from work every day knowing that you have made a real difference in the lives of others. As a nurse, you will often feel fulfilled and enjoy a high level of career satisfaction, especially when patients come back to thank you for all that you did for them, and you realize just how much the work that you do means to others. If you want a career where you know you're making a huge difference, nursing could be for you. 

Earn Respect

Nursing is one of the most well-respected career options around the world, and it's easy to see why. The amount of work that nurses do and the amount of responsibility that they have for the health of others is no secret. And, nurses have become even more respected during the COVID-19 crisis as individuals that continue to go to work and put their own health at risk in order to continue being there and supporting others when they need it the most. Everybody who knows what you do is going to respect you for it, which is an awesome feeling to have about your job. Wherever you go, nurses are admired for being selfless, caring people who are appreciated by everybody. 

Lifelong Learning

If you are always hungry to learn new things, nursing is a perfect career choice. The healthcare industry is constantly changing and evolving with new diseases being discovered, new medications created to combat them, new machinery used in patient care, and new techniques introduced all the time. As a nurse, it's important to be a lifelong learner who is committed to ensuring that you are always up to date with the latest knowledge and information. Upgrading your knowledge and skills is likely going to be something that you do on a regular basis. Nurses need to take regular exams to ensure that they are up to speed on the latest developments, which seem to be taking place more and more frequently thanks to technology. If you enjoy learning new things, nursing provides the perfect career to continue building your knowledge. 

Educate Future Nurses

It's often current nurses who provide the next generation of nurses with the most valuable education that they receive. As a registered nurse, you could decide to study further and work as a nurse educator, where you'll be teaching student nurses the ropes. But even while working as a registered nurse in the hospital or clinic, you might often be working directly with students who are undertaking work placements as part of their program. The mentorship and guidance that you provide can make a huge difference to their learning experience, and you'll directly affect the future of nursing. 

Over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear to see that more nurses are needed. If the events of the past year have inspired you to do something meaningful with your career, it's definitely an excellent time to get into nursing.